Apparatus to produce non-woven fabric

ABSTRACT

A machine to provide a non-woven fabric which has a novel package arrangement to supply double weft yarns to the fabric being produced and at the same time includes safety features to protect the operator in case of malfunction of the equipment.

United States Patent Engels Oct. 8, 1974 APPARATUS T0 PRODUCE NON-WOVEN 3,493,455 2/1970 Le 13018 et al 28/1 c1. FABRIC 3,593,939 7 1971 Bolles 28/1 CL r. 2 8 3,636,692 l/1972 Barges 57/58.3 [7 e t Walter g y n, N.C. 3,728,195 4/1973 Bolles 28/72 NW 73] Assignee: Deering Milliken Research H Ccrpgratign, Spartanburg, S.C. Primary Exkzminer-Mervin Stein 22 Filed: June 1 1973 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Earle R. Marden; H.

William Petry v [21] Appl. No.: 371,058

52 us. c1. 28/1 CL, 57/58.38, 57/58.81, [57] 8 ABSTRACT 57/58.83, 57/78 A machine to provide a non-woven fabric which has a [51] Int. Cl D01h 7/90 novel package arrangement to supply double weft [58] Field of Search.,.,,. 2 8/l CL, 7 2 NW, Q7/2816 yarns to the fabric being produced and at the same 57/58.3, 58.38, 58.52, 58.63, 58.72, 58.81, time includes Safety features to protect the operator in 57/58.83 case of malfunction of the equipment.

[561' References Cited 10 Claims, 11 Drawing Figuresv v UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,425,203 2/1969 Schillebeecky 57/58.38 X

FIG.-'3-

PAIENIEunm 8mm SIRIJN'I PATENTEU BET 81974 SHEEI 8 0f 7 PATENTEDUBT 81914 3.839.769

SHEET 70F 7 APPARATUS T PRODUCE NON-WOVENFABRIC It is an object of this invention to provide a double weft machine which will more efficiently produce a non-woven fabric.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become clearly apparent as the specification proceeds to describe the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic view of the new improved machine;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view like FIG. 1 showing the offset relationship of the weft yarn package support;

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of the weft yarn creel of FIG. 2; 1

FIG. 4 is a partially cross-section view of the univer sal drive shaft between the creel and fabric forming section;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the weft yarn package holder and associated guard cage;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the weft yarn package holder with parts broken away for clarity;

FIG. 7 is a schematic control circuit for the improved machine;

FIG. 8 is a modification of the machine shown in FIG.

lay down the weft yarn;

FIG. 10 is a cross-section view of the flyer arm taken on line 10-10 of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a cross-section view of the flyer arm taken on line 11-1l of FIG. 9.

. Referring now more particularly to the drawings and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, an apparatus isshown for continuously forming non-woven net fabrics which generally includes a thread winding section 10, a weft sheet forming section 12, a warp and weft sheet com- FIG. 9 is a top' view of a modified flyer assembly to includes thread winding means comprising a pair of hollow tubular thread guide arms 20 and 21 secured to a hollow central shaft 22 for rotation therewith. Shaft 22 is suitably supported for rotation about its central axis and is rotably driven by motor 24 through endless belt 25 and gear box 26. During rotation of thread guide arms 20 and 21 continuous threads or weft yarns 28 and 30 are continuously passed from the creel section 18 and yarn package 32, respectively, through the hollow shaft 22 with yarn 28 passing outwardly through guide arm 20 and yarn 30 passing outwardly through guide arm 21 through their respective outlets 34.

The weft sheet forming section 12 includes a pair of spaced thread support members 36 which supportably receive the threads or weft yarns 28 and 30 passing from the outlets 34 of the guide arms 20 and 21 in a plurality of generally parallel'thread reaches therebetween. Thread support members 36 are of preferably substantially identical construction and each comprises an elongated helical member or spring 38 of high strength, rigid material such as spring steel. If desired, one of the thread support members 36 may use a double wound helical spring. The elongated helical member 38 is removably mounted in and rotable with a frusto-conical collar member 40 which facilitates placement of the thread or yarn in the spaces of the helical members 38 and is connected to rotably driven stub shaft 42. Stub shaft 42 isrotably mounted on the end of cross arm 44 which is supported by a suitable bearing surrounding the drive shaft 22. Each thread support member 36 is rotated about'its horizontal axis. To facilitate positional support of the helical members 38, suitably supported blocks or stop members 46 are positioned beneath each helical member and abuttingly engage the same to prevent rotation of the cross arm 44 and helical member 38 about the shaft 22 during its rotation and thereby positionally stabilize the same.

As best seen in FIG. 1, the warp and weft sheet combining section includes a pair of nip rolls 48 and 50 which are rotably supported'by suitable means, now shown, between the free or open ends of the helical members 38. As seenin FIG. 1, as the helical members 38 rotate to advance the thread or yarn reaches in spaced parallel relation therealong to form the weft sheet, the thread reaches leaving the open ends of the members 38 pass between and are engaged bynip rolls 48 and 50. One or more sheets 52 and 54 of warp threads or yarns from the warp beams 56 and 58, re.- spectively, are supplied continuously to the nip portion of the rolls 48 and 50 from the beams and, during their movement therethrough, the warp and weft sheets are brought into contiguous coplanar relation. As shown in FIG. 1 the loop ends of the weft thread or yarn reaches are released from the rotating helical members 38 and the combined sheetspass over a guide roller 60 to the sheet securing section 16.

The securing section 16 includes an adhesive bath 62 through which the composite sheet of warp andweft yarns are'passed by rotable squeeze rolls 64 and 66 to apply a' suitable adhesive thereto. The sheetthereafter passes about the surface of'a pluralityof heated drying rolls 68 where the warp and weft yarns are secured together and the thus formed non-woven net fabric 70 is collected on a take-up roll 72. Although not shown, one or more of the rolls in the securing section 16 may be suitably driven to move the warp and weft sheets through the apparatus;

Looking again at FIG. 1, the stub shafts 42 and their respective helical members 38 have aligned central passageways through which selvage threads or yarns 73 continuously pass. during formation of the weft sheet to be positioned within the loop ends of the weft thread or yarn reaches as the reaches leave the open ends of the helical members 38. The selvage threads not only strengthen the composite non-woven net fabric .product 70 but provide additional support to the weft sheet during its passage through the securing'section 16 of the apparatus.

As discussed briefly before, it is desired to run more than one weft stand so as to provide increased production and efficiency in the manufacture of non-woven fabric. In the preferred form of the invention the apparatus is shown running two strands of weft thread or yarn but it is understood that it is contempleted that any number of strands can be run within the scope of the invention. To this end and to reduce the overall length of the apparatus, the offset creel section 18 is employed. In-conventional types of non-woven fabric producing machines the creel section would be located in direct line with the weft yarn laydown mechanism thus requiring thewarp beams to be located beyond the creel section because of the ballooning of the'weft warp beams 56 and 58 to move closer in toward the weft sheet forming section 12, thereby reducing the amount of floor space required to erect and operate the apparatus. This basically has been accomplished by utilizing a commercially available universal drive shaft transmission 75 between the sprocket 74, driven from the hollow shaft 22, and the shaft 76 to which is attached a sprocket 78 which transmits the drive to sprocket 79 via chain 80 to rotate hollow shaft 82 to which are attached radial hollow arms 84 and 86.

Creel section 18 is supported on a base plate 88 to which is attached an upright support 90 which rotably supports the hollow shaft 82, slidably supports the cage members 92 and 94 and the weft package support 96. The weft package support consists basically of a pair of plates 98 attached to the upright support 90 and support the rod 99 therebetween attached to the L-shaped arm 100. Rotably supported at the end of arm 100 is a shaft 102 to which is fixed a collar member 104 which rotates therewith and has'a plurality of radially extending arms 106 to support the weft yarn packages 32..The

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show in more detail the creel section 18. As discussed previously, the thread or yarn 28 from -the package 108 is delivered from the package 108 through'the nose portion 110 on the end of rotably mounted hollow shaft 82. Looking at FIG. 6 it can be seen that the yarn 28 moves down the center of shaft 82 and is delivered to the radial arm 86 through nozzle 120 located at an angle to the shaft 82 so that the yarn 28 does not change direction abruptly from the shaft 82 to the arm 86. A second nozzle 122 is provided to allow the yarn 30 from the package 32 to exit from the shaft 82 and be delivered to the radial arm-84.

As discussed previously, the hollow arm 82 is rotable in suitable hearings in the support member 90. Mounted around the shaft 82 is a bearing housing 124 which has bearings 126 and 128 therein to allow the shaft to rotate relative to the housing 124. Connected to the housing 124 and depending therefrom is a memher 127 to counter the tendency of the bearing housing packages 32 are connected to one another through the use of a transfer tail so that when one runs out the next package will automatically be unwound. This is accomplished by tying the tail of one package 32 to the lead end of the next adjacent package 32.

Inoperation continuous weft threads 28 and 30 are supplied from their respective packages 108 and 32, respectively, through the hollow shaft 22 to hollow guide arms 20 and 21 to wind the threads or yarns about the ends of the spaced-apart guide members 36. The threads or yarns 28 and 30 are guided by the frusto-conical member 40 into the spaces between the first and second helices of the springs 38. As the outlet ends 34 of the guide arms 20 and 21 pass about the springs 38, the threads or yarns 28 and 30 are laid in a plurality of reaches extending therebetween. The looped ends of the yarn engage the springs 38and the springs are continuously rotated to advance the reaches in spaced, generally parallel relation along the springs to form the weft yarn sheet. As the reaches of the yarn 28 and 30 approach the open ends of the springs, they engage the selvage yarns passing through the center of springs 38 and combine with the warp threads 52 and 54 as they pass through nip rolls 48 and 50. As previously pointed out, the combined weft and warp thread sheets are then impregnated with a suitable adhesive, dried and cured and thereafter collected.

The thread or yarn 30 is delivered from the package 32 to the hollow shaft 22 through the hollow shaft 82 and the rotating hollow arm 84. The thread or yarn 28 is delivered to the hollow shaft 22 from the package 108 through the hollow nose portion 110, hollow shaft 82 and the radial hollow arm 86. To control the balloon configuration of the yarns 28 and 30 as they rotate rings 112 and 114 are mounted on the housing of the transmission 75 by suitable supports 1l6 and 118.

As discussed previously, the creel section 18 is offset from the apparatus to allow the warp beams 56 and 58 to be placed closer to the thread or yarn winding section 10 to reduce the overall length of the apparatus as shown in FIG. 3 wherein the creel section 18 is located at approximately a 45 angle from the longitudinal centerline of the apparatus through the use of a commercially available universal drive transmission as exemplitied in FIG. 4.

124 to rotate with the shaft 82. Mounted on the outside of the housing 124 is a second bearing housing 130 with bearings 132 and 134 therein to allow the housing 130 to rotate relative to the housing 124. Rigidly connected to the outside of housing 130 is a plurality of package support arms 136 to support the weft packages 108. Weft packages 108 are connected to one another through the use of a transfer tail, that is, the tail of one.

package 108 is tied to the lead end ofthe next adjacent package 108. I

Attached to the bottom of the counter member 127 is a reflector 138, which, if one of the bearings 126 or 128 should freeze, the member 128 will be rotated into the path of the photoelectric eye 139 and the reflector 138 will reflect the signal therefrom back to the photoelectric cell associated with the eye 139 to open the switch 141 (FIG. 7,) to open the circuit to the drive motor 24 and stop the operation of the machine.

As briefly discussed before, the creel section package cage members 94 and 96 are slidably mounted on rods members 94 and 96 to be slid back to gain access to the packages 108. To prevent accidental injury to the machine operator by the rotating balloons of yarn or other moving parts of the creel section 18, a pair of microswitches 144 and 146 are connected in series with the motors 24 and are located so switch 144 is in the path of travel of the cage member 94 and the switch 146 is in the path of travel of the cage member 96. It can be seen from FIGS. 5 and 7 that whenever one of the cage members other of or 96 is slid back to gain access to the interior of the creel section 18, one or the otherof switches 144 or 146 will be opened by engagement with the cage to open the circuit to the drive motor 24.

FIG. 8 shows a modification of FIGS. 1-7 in that arrangement is shown that allows three weft yarns. In FIG. 8 the hollow shaft 82 is extended and a second package support 148 with a plurality of package support arms 150 is mounted thereon in the same manner as shown in FIG. 6. To accommodate the additional yarn or thread 152 additional hollow radial arms 154 and 155 are connected to the shaft 82 on both sides of the support and communicates with the interior thereof. Another nose portion 156 identical to the nose portion in FIGS. 1-7 is connected to the left hand end of the shaft 82. The weft package 32 is moved out beyond the second package support 148 and mounted shaft 82. The additional yarn 152 is delivered from the package support 148 into the hollow shaft 82 through the nose portion 156 and to the hollow shaft 22 through the additional radial arm 155. It is understood that the thread winding section will also have an additional arm to lay down the additional yarn or thread 152.

In both of the above forms of the invention it should be understood that an additional yarn could be supplied, if desired, directly from one or more of the packages 108 directly to the hollow shaft 22 while yarn 28 is being supplied through the nose portion 110 to the radial arm 86.

FIGS. 9-11 illustrate a modification of the thread guide arms 20 and 21 and/or the guide arms 84 and 86. In FIGS. 9-11 the guide arms 156 and 160 are solid and support a plurality of yarn guides 162. Yarn guides 162 are preferably molded from plastic or like material and have a ceramic eyelet 163 therein for the passage of yarn therethrough. The yarn guides 162 telescope over the solid arms 158 and 160 and are held thereon by suitable means such as screw member 164. You will note that the yarn guide 162 (FIG. 10) supplying yarn to the underside of the spring 38 is turned down and is moved to the up position (FIG. 11) as the arm is rotated to supply yarn to the top of spring 38.

Although I have described in detail the preferred embodiments of my invention, I contemplete that many changes may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention and I desire to be limited only by the claims.

That which is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for producing non-woven fabric comprising yarn guide means including a pair of yarn guides spaced from each other, creel means for supporting a plurality of yarn packages of a first yarn, said creel means including an upright support member, a hollow shaft member rotably supported in said upright support member, a plurality of radially directed yarn guide arms connected to said shaft member on oneside of said upright support member, means operably associated with said creel means supporting a plurality of yarn packages of a second yarn means to supply said first yarn and said second yarn from their respective packages through said hollow shaft member to said radially directed yarn guide arms and to wind the yarn about said pair of yarn guides to form reaches of yarn therebetween and means for combining a sheet of yarn with the yarn reaches between said spaced yarn guides to form a non-woven fabric.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said creel means includes a first bearing housing with bearings therein contacting said shaft member and a second bearing housing surrounding said first bearing housing and hav ing bearings therein contacting said first bearing housing and means connected to said first bearing housing stabilizing said first bearing housing against rotation with said shaft member. I

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said means connected to said first bearing housing includes a deflector and said creel means includes a photocell arrangement to stop the operation of said apparatus when said deflector is rotated into the path of a beam of light from said photocell arrangement upon the malfunction of one of the bearings in said first bearing housing.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said sheet of yarn combined with said yarn reaches is supplied from a warp beam, said creel means being mounted at an angle to said warp beam to allow said warp beam to be mounted closer to said spaced yarn guides.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 whereinsaid creel means includes a pair of slidably mounted cage members to prevent access to said creel section and switch means operably associated with said cage members to stop the operation of said apparatus when one of said cage members is slid back to expose the interior of said creel means. 7 g

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said cage members are slidably mounted on rods connected to and projecting from said upright support member.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein siad shaft member projects through both sides of said upright support member and means on the side of said upright support opposite to said first yarn package support for mounting a plurality of yarn packages of a third yarn and means operably associated with said creel means to deliver the third yarn from the package support to said spacedyarn guides,

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein saidmeans to deliver the third yarn includes a third radially directed yarn guide arm connected to said shaft member,

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means to wind yarn about said yarn guides includes at least a pair of yarn guide arms and spaced yarn guide members connected thereto. I

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said spaced yarn guides are telescoped over said yarn guides and have a ceramic eyelet therein for the passage of yarn therethrough.

UNITED s rl xT s PATENT OFFIC CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent: No. 3,839,769 Dated oetebers, 1974 Inventor(s) WaltefEngelsv It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patentare hereby corrected as shown below:

Column Z, line 13, the Word "now" should rad --not-.

Column 2, line 53, the word "stand" should read --strand--.

Column 4, line 51, the words "other of" should be the numeral --94--.

I Column 5, line 17,: the rni'rn eral 'l l'l56" s l 1oul -d" b 5- Signed and sealed this 17th day of December 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

McCOY M. GIBSON JR. c. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents -'ORM PC3-1050 (10-69) I i c -pc go37 -p5g w u,s. eovsiumsm' nm'rme OFFICE was o-aes-su, 

1. Apparatus for producing non-woven fabric comprising yarn guide means including a pair of yarn guides spaced from each other, creel means for supporting a plurality of yarn packages of a first yarn, said creel means including an upright support member, a hollow shaft member rotably supported in said upright support member, a plurality of radially directed yarn guide arms connected to said shaft member on one side of said upright support member, means operably associated with said creel means supporting a plurality of yarn packages of a second yarn means to supply said first yarn and said second yarn from their respective packages through said hollow shaft member to said radially directed yarn guide arms and to wind the yarn about said pair of yarn guides to form reaches of yarn therebetween and means for combining a sheet of yarn with the yarn reaches between said spaced yarn guides to form a non-woven fabric.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said creel means includes a first bearing housing with bearings therein contacting said shaft member and a second bearing housing surrounding said first bearing housing and having bearings therein contacting said first bearing housing and means connected to said first bearing housing stabilizing said first bearing housing against rotation with said shaft member.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said means connected to said first bearing housing includes a deflector and said creel means includes a photocell arrangement to stop the operation of said apparatus when said deflector is rotated into the path of a beam of light from said photocell arrangement upon the malfunction of one of the bearings in said first bearing housing.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said sheet of yarn combined with said yarn reaches is supplied from a warp beam, said creel means being mounted at an angle to said warp beam to allow said warp beam to be mounted closer to said spaced yarn guides.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said creel means includes a pair of slidably mounted cage members to prevent access to said creel section and switch means operably associated with said cage members to stop the operation of said apparatus when one of said cage members is slid back to expose the interior of said creel means.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said cage members are slidably mounted on rods connected to and projecting from said upright support member.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein siad shaft member projects through both sides of said upright support member and means on the side of said upright support opposite to said first yarn package support for mounting a plurality of yarn packages of a third yarn and means operably associated with said creel means to deliver the third yarn from the package support to said spaced yarn guides.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said means to deliver the third yarn includes a third radially directed yarn guide arm connected to said shaft member.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means to wind yarn about said yarn guides includes at least a pair of yarn guide arms and spaced yarn guide members connected thereto.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said spaced yarn guides are telescoped over said yarn guides and have a ceramic eyelet therein for the passage of yarn therethrough. 